Hail to the Thief Lyrics and Artwork

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Well, I think there’s the constant desire not to believe things are true, to deny. A constant desire to get away from the reality of the situation.

--Thom | 2003-07-02 | X-clusive: the Thom Yorke Interview

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T23:15:00.001-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T23:14:00.003-08:00

2008-12-14T23:14:00.001-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T23:11:00.001-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T22:57:00.001-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcard Pack

2008-12-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcards Pack

2008-12-13T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcards Pack

2008-12-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcards Pack

2008-12-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

Hail to the Thief Postcards Pack

2008-12-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)

2008-12-12T18:37:00.000-08:00

are you such a dreamer
to put the world to rights
I'll stay home forever
where two and two always makes up five

I'll lay down the tracks
sandbag and hide
january has april's showers
and two and two always makes up five

it's the devil's way now
there is no way out
you can scream and you can shout
it is too late now

because

you have not been payin' attention

I try to sing along
but the music's all wrong
'cause I’m not
'cause I’m not

I swat 'em like flies
but like flies the buggers keep coming back
god
but I’m not

all hail to the thief
all hail to the thief
but I'm not
but I'm not
but I'm not
but I'm not

don't question my authority
or put me in a box
'cause I'm not
'cause I'm not

oh go and tell the king
that the sky is falling in
when it's not
but it's not
but it's not
maybe not
maybe not

Sit down. Stand up. (Snakes & Ladders.)

2008-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

sit down, stand up
walk into the jaws of hell
anytime

sit down, stand up
we can wipe you out anytime

the rain drops

Sail to the Moon. (Brush the Cobwebs out of the Sky.)

2008-12-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

I sucked the moon
I spoke too soon
and how much did it cost

I was dropped from
moonbeams
and sailed on shooting stars

maybe you'll
be president
but know right from wrong

or in the flood
you'll build an Ark
and sail us to the moon
sail us to the moon
sail to...

Backdrifts. (Honeymoon is Over.)

2008-12-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

we're rotten fruit, we're damaged goods
what the hell, we got nothing more to lose
one gust and we will probably crumble
we’re backdrifting

this far but no further
I'm hanging off a branch
I'm teetering on the brink of honey sweet, so fall asleep
I'm backsliding

you fell into our arms
you fell into our arms
we tried but there was nothing we could do
nothing we could do

all evidence has been buried
all tapes have been erased
but your footsteps give you away
so you’re backtracking

you fell into our arms
you fell into our arms
we tried but there was nothing we could do
nothing we could do

you fell into our
you fell into our

we're rotten fruit, we're damaged goods
what the hell, we’ve got nothing more to lose
one gust and we will probably crumble
we’re backdrifters

Go to Sleep. (Little Man being Erased.)

2008-12-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

something for the rag and bone man
over my dead body
something big is gonna happen
over my dead body

someone's son or someone’s daughter
over my dead body
this is how I end up sucked in
over my dead body

I’m gonna go to sleep
and let this wash all over me

we don't really want the monster taking over
tip toe round, tie him down
we don’t want the loonies takin’ over
tip toe round, tie him down

may pretty horses come to you as you sleep
I’m gonna go to sleep
and let this wash all over me

Go To Sleep (Little Man Being Erased)
It's two sides. Two sides of the corner a lot of the time, I suppose. There's definitely two prevailing voices. Little man being erased is an animation that Stanley [Donwood] did, which is gonna be on the website probably. That was another possible title for the record, which is nice but didn't fit. The words to this were pretty much written all the way down the line; 'Ok, change all these at one point because this is all nonsense, blah, blah, blah'. And then, actually ended up in the studio and it's like, 'Ok, I need to rewrite the words'. And then reading through the words and discovering that I'd actually got something really coherent without actually having made the effort to do it, or rather, I couldn't see it. It's actually the lyrics I'm most proud of on the record, I think.

--XFM interview with thom

It was a bit of a shock to start with ‘2+2=5’ firstly because we didn’t expect it to go on the record and secondly, when we did record it, it was only really a test and we didn’t even really remember doing it. It was just knocked out. It’s very throwaway and Ed was massively into the idea of putting something just throwaway at the beginning ‘cos every time we put a record out it’s like; ‘Hey, it’s a big deal for the first thing’. We just wanted to get away from that kind of thing completely, I mean, y’know I think ‘2+2=5’ could even be on ‘Pablo Honey’!

2003-07-03 | XFM

'2+2=5' is good, but as Nigel says, I wish I had another go at that one. We wanted to do things quickly, and I think the songs suffered. It was part of the experiment. Every record is part of the experiment.

--Thom | 2006-07 | Spin

Where I End and You Begin. (The Sky is Falling in.)

2008-12-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

there's a gap in between
there's a gap where we meet
where I end and you begin

I'm sorry for us
the dinosaurs roam the earth
the sky turns green
where I end and you begin

I am up in the clouds
I am up in the clouds
and I can't and I can't come down

I can watch and not take part
where I end and where you start
where you, you left me alone
you left me alone

X will mark the place
like the parting of the waves
like a house falling into the sea
Into the sea

I will eat you alive
and there’ll be no more lies

We Suck Young Blood. (Your Time is up.)

2008-12-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

are you hungry?
are you sick?
are you begging for a break?
are you sweet?
are you fresh?
are you strung up by the wrists?

we want the young blood

are you fracturing?
are you torn at the seams?
would you do anything?
fleabitten, motheaten?

we suck young blood
we suck young blood

won’t let the creeping ivy
won’t let the nervous bury me
our veins are thin
our rivers poisoned

we want the sweet meat
we want the young blood

[A song about] these multiplatmum artists hooking up with the latest French disco producer to do their new record

.-Colin, Rolling Stone, Aug. 2001.

The Gloaming. (Softly Open our Mouths in the Cold.)

2008-12-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

genie let out of the bottle
it is now the witching hour
genie let out of the bottle
it is now the witching hour

murderers, you’re murderers
we are not the same as you
genie let out of the bottle
funny ha ha, funny ha

when the walls bend, when the walls bend
with your breathing, with your breathing
when the walls bend, when the walls bend
with your breathing, with your breathing
with your breathing

they will suck you down to the other side
they will suck you down to the other side
they will suck you down to the other side
they will suck you down to the other side

to the shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
your alarm bells, your alarm bells
shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
your alarm bells, your alarm

they should be ringing

this is the gloaming

There there. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)

2008-12-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

in pitch dark
I go walking in your landscape
broken branches
trip me as I speak

just 'cause you feel it
doesn’t mean it’s there
just 'cause you feel it
doesn’t mean it’s there

there's always a siren
singing you to shipwreck
don't reach out
steer away from these rocks
we'd be a walking disaster
don't reach out

just 'cause you feel it
doesn't mean it's there
there’s someone on your shoulder
just 'cause you feel it
doesn't mean it's there
there’s someone on your shoulder

there there

why so green and lonely
heaven sent you to me
we are accidents waiting to happen
we are accidents waiting to happen

I Will. (No man's Land.)

2008-12-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

I will lay me down
in a bunker underground

I won’t let this happen to my children
meet the real world coming out of your shell

with white elephants
sitting ducks
I will rise up

little babies' eyes

A Punchup at a Wedding. (No no no no no no no no.)

2008-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know why you bother
nothing's ever good enough for you
I was there, it wasn't like that
you've come here just to start a fight

you had to piss on our parade
you had to shred our big day
you had to ruin it for all concerned
in a drunken punch-up at a wedding, yeah

hypocrite opportunist
don't infect me with your poison
a bully in a china shop
when I turn 'round you stay frozen to the spot

the pointless snide remarks
of hammer-headed sharks
the pot will call the kettle black
it's a drunken punch-up at a wedding, yeah

Myxomatosis. (Judge, Jury & Executioner.)

2008-12-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

the mongrel cat came home
holding half a head
proceeded to show it off
to all his new found friends

he said I been where I liked
I slept with who I liked
she ate me up for breakfast
she screwed me in a vice

but now I don't know why I feel so tongue-tied

I sat in the cupboard
and wrote it down in neat
they were cheering and waving, cheering and waving
twitching and salivating like with myxomatosis

but it got edited, fucked up
strangled, beaten up
used as a photo in Time magazine
buried in a burning black hole in Devon

I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied
don’t know why I feel so skinned alive

my thoughts are misguided and a little naive
I twitch and I salivate like with myxomatosis
you should put me in a home or you should put me down
I got myxomatosis, I got myxomatosis

yeah no one likes a smart ass, but we all like stars
that wasn't my intention, I did it for a reason
it must have got mixed up, strangled, beaten up
I got myxomatosis, I got myxomatosis

I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied

...that's part of what 'myxomatosis' is about - it's about wishing that all the people who tell you that you're crazy were actually right. that would make life somuch easier.

--Thom

I loved the word," said Yorke, who could remember his parents discussing the episode at home. But, he added, his song was actually about mind control.
... It's one of the wordiest songs on the album, too, evolving from a short story Yorke had written then cut up, in the style of another mind control freak, William Burroughs.

--Radiohead: The Complete Guide to their Music by Mark Paytress

It’s actually a short story that I wrote and then cut up. And I never write short stories. I used to write them at University. In fact, I managed to blag my way on a course for creative writing just because I didn’t want to do Spencer. Something like that anyway, very old, very thick, big book. I was not having any of that. Anyway, where was I? Erm…oh yeah. Myxomotosis is a man-made disease, you see, and I think I may have it. I think it’s got a lot of that absurdist thing in it. There’s obviously something wrong with me. I mean I’m obviously missing something here. I must be ill, ‘cos when I listen to the radio I just go ‘Uurghhh!’ and it makes me very angry. I am one of those people. I shout at the TV.

--XFM interview with thom

Scatterbrain. (As Dead as Leaves.)

2008-12-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

I'm walking out in a force ten gale
birds thrown around, bullets for hail
the roof is pulling off by its fingernails
your voice is rapping on my windowsill

yesterday's headlines blown by the wind
yesterday's people end up scatterbrain
any fool can easy pick a hole - I only wish I could fall in
a moving target in a firing range

somewhere I'm not
scatterbrain

lightning fuse
powercut
scatterbrain

It’s a really, really difficult song to describe where it came from, because on the surface it really was just an instant where those things happened. But at the same time there was a lot of other stuff going on that gave it significance. And my favourite type of weather in the whole wide world is extreme winds. I just get really excited. It is a bit dangerous. There was one time where… I have a house in the middle of nowhere and the house next door, the roof blew up and we just watched it and it was exactly like ‘The Wizard of Oz’. It was fantastic. And this was a similar incident in the city. But it’s kind of a love song as well, in a way.

--Thom | XFM | Spring 2003

A Wolf at the Door. (It Girl. Rag Doll.)

2008-12-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

rag him out your window
dragging out the dead
singing I miss you
snakes and ladders
flip the lid
out pops the cracker
snaps you in the head
knifes you in the neck
kicks you in the teeth
steel toe caps
takes all your credit cards
get up get the gunge

get the eggs
get the flan in the face
the flan in the face
the flan in the face
dance you fucker
dance you fucker
don't you dare
don't you dare
don't you
flan in the face
take it with the love it's given
take it with a pinch of salt
take it to the taxman

let me back let me back
I promise to be good
don't look in the mirror
at the face you don't recognize
help me, call a doctor
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside
put me inside

I keep the wolf from the door
but he calls me up
calls me on the phone
tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
steal all my children
if I don't pay the ransom
and I'll never see them again
if I squeal to the cops

walking like giant cranes
and with my X-ray eyes I strip you naked
in a tight little world
and are you on the list?
stepford wives
who are we to complain?
investments and dealers
investments and dealers
cold wives and mistresses
cold wives and sunday papers

city boys in first class
don't know they're born
they know someone else is gonna come and clean it up
born and raised for the job
someone always does
I wish you'd get up get over get up get over
turn your tape off

I keep the wolf from the door
but he calls me up
calls me on the phone
tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
steal all my children
if I don't pay the ransom
and I'll never see them again
if I squeal to the cops

so I just go
ooooohhhh...